To what extent was the Soviet Unions expansion into Eastern Europe the main cause of the intensifications

of the Cold War in the years 1945-49? Initially, people were blaming the Soviets for the aggressiveness they showed while creating themselves a buffer zone to secure themselves from future invasions from the west. In particular, after the Yalta conference, Stalin tightened his hold on Poland, which was a major buffer zone for him. The Americans wanted a liberal democratic regime in Poland while Stalin was determined to ensure nothing of the sort would be set up. Britain and American protested, claiming that it was a breach of the Yalta agreement. Stalin reacted to this by allowing elections; however they were by no means free and unfettered. One of the leaders of a non-communist Polish party, Mikolajczyk, actually fled the country in 1947, fearing arrest as a reign of terror descended upon Poland. Stalin had succeeded in creating a communist Poland, and as such the west saw it as a threat of communist expansion and became increasingly wary of Stalin. As well as creating a communist Poland, Stalin was also expanding into Eastern Europe and spreading communism there. In addition to Poland, Romania had also undergone a Soviet revolution and was under complete Soviet control, while countries such as Hungary, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia were under heavy Soviet influence. Yugoslavia and Albania had set up their own communist regimes which Stalin had tried to control but didnt succeed. The west was aware of the spread of communism and took it as a threat, as it very much looked like Stalin was trying to take over Eastern Europe and was being aggressive in doing so. The response from the West was the Iron Curtain speech from Churchill, which basically highlighted how large the Soviet sphere of influence was since Stalin controlled a huge amount of Eastern Europe. This made the west even more wary of how much power Stalin was obtaining, and felt that it was a little too much, and a threat to capitalism and their security, thus worsening the relations between the two superpowers. What happened in Berlin would also intensify the Cold War. There was a very distinct separation between East and West Berlin and tension between the two sides. Eastern Germany, under Soviet control, was mostly agricultural, and they werent interested in the well-being of the Germans, they wanted to increase living conditions in Russia, since they were hit hard by the war. Therefore they extracted as much from Germany as they could, literally dismantling factories and transporting them to Russia. The USSR, along with France, did not want Germany to be given any chance to recover. This could be seen by the USA and Britain as harsh treatment and greed, worsening the relations between them and the USSR, along with the fact that the USSR was starving the East German people and they had to send in $700 million worth of food per year to prevent them from starving. However, was Stalin actually being threatening to the west? It is possible that his expansion and control and influence over Eastern European countries was aggressive, however he had been invaded twice from Germany through Poland in the last hundred years. Stalin wanted a buffer zone because he was determined that the same thing wouldnt happen again. Stalin had lost a lot during the war and felt he deserved some extreme reparations to try and prevent his country from being invaded so easily from the west again. While his actions regarding expansion into Eastern Europe seemed very threatening, it could be that he only wanted to take control over some surrounding countries as a means of protection. The USA had nuclear technology, and Truman made it very sure that Stalin knew about it. Stalin was a paranoid man, and Truman being so pressed to ensure he

knew about the USAs nuclear capabilities, which theyd already demonstrated in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, seemed very suspicious. The USA was being very threatening to Stalin and not only would this have worsened the relations between the two, it could also have been a factor in Stalins aggressiveness when establishing his satellite states and buffer zone. He could have been doing this out of fear of the nuclear technology that the USA was showing off, rather than to be aggressive and take control of as much as he possibly could. The USAs policies of containment, The Truman Doctrine and the Marshall Plan were clearly strongly against Stalins aims. They claimed that the USA would help any country if it required aid, but only if they were not communist. This was threatening to the USSR because it meant that the USA was globally announcing their hatred for communism and Stalins ideals. It also meant that any country that could potentially turn communist would be far less likely to, since it would eliminate their chances of aid from the USA. The USA was trying to influence Western Europe in an attempt to contain Stalins expansion. Stalin saw this as threatening and was more inclined to build up his defence further rather than settle for a buffer zone which he was happy with. The Berlin Blockade 1948-49 is also an example of conflicting ideologies between the USSR and the west. The west had begun to encourage economic regrowth in their parts of Germany, replaces the Reichs Mark with the Deutche Mark. The USSR was opposed to this and established a blockade, which they viewed as a substitute to war. All rail, road and canal links to West Berlin were severed and they rushed to introduce their own currency. However, due to the negligence of the East German people by Stalin, they depended on the west for food and clothing. Britain and the US were aware of this and sent huge amounts of supplies over to help them out. Stalin denied there was ever a crisis and continued with the blockade. The west responded with a counter-blockade which put the East German economy at a complete standstill which caused the blockade to be called off. This is a result of both western and eastern ideologies clashing and the two superpowers not working together. The lack of decent communication between the two, such as the Soviet Military Governor walking out of the ACC, meant that differences couldnt be solved through negotiation and either side reverted to near conflict, but they were too scared of each other to actually fight. In conclusion, the lack of communication between the two superpowers was the main cause of the intensifications of the Cold War in the years 1945-49. Stalin was paranoid about further attacks and wanted ways of defending himself from any potential threat. The USA interpreted this wrongly and assumed he was being aggressive and trying to take over large amounts of Europe. Therefore, they set up means to contain his expansion with the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan; however that caused Stalin to feel even more threatened by the west. The fact that they couldnt work together due to the clash of ideologies meant that they kept misinterpreting each other and unnecessarily acting rashly.